


Vader: Unmasked

by Floral_Murdock



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Because all technology in Star Wars has a silly name, Epistolary, Except here it’s called aud-casting, Gen, Now this is podcasting!, True (fictional) Crime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:29:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29916948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floral_Murdock/pseuds/Floral_Murdock
Summary: After the fall of the Empire, Ranza and Jami start an aud-cast to debunk some of the mythology around the Emperor’s most infamous henchman and maybe, just maybe, discover Darth Vader’s true identity.
Kudos: 9





	Vader: Unmasked

VADER UNMASKED: EPISODE ONE

R: Let me set the scene — Endor, five standard years ago. Big, clunky stormtroopers are speeding through the dense old-growth forest. The native Ewoks might be small, but they’re more than capable of taking out the Empire’s most elite fighting force with their spears and nets. 

The rebels lie in wait, hidden amongst the deep foliage. Pilots have gone up to destroy the second Death Star. They don’t know it yet, but this will be the last battle of the war. The emperor is on the fallen Death Star, and Luke Skywalker will return with the body of his second in command.

Intro: Familiar deep breathing over ominous music.

R: Hi, I’m Ranza.

J: And I’m Jami. 

R: And welcome to Vader Unmasked. 

J: Vader was one of the most feared symbols of the Empire’s oppression. Though he died along with the Empire he served, his terrifying image and his devastating impact on the galaxy live on. We are definitely not here to glorify the Emperor’s henchman or gloss over the many crimes Vader committed. But Vader, with his mysterious powers, strange armor, and hidden identity has almost become a sort of mythological being throughout the galaxy. We want to help make sure that myth can never hurt anyone again. We’re here to try to demystify Vader by exploring some of the theories of what lurked behind the infamous black mask. 

R: And if we humiliate his ghost in the process, well, good. So, Jami, what is known about Darth Vader?

J: Stories about Darth Vader abound, but there’s very little we can say for sure. “Darth” is a title, not a name, given to members of the Sith. The Sith are a religious cult who have the ability to harness the Force, which is the same mystical ability harnessed by the Jedi. But the Sith are said to draw power from negative emotions like hate and fear, which is forbidden among the Jedi. This title suggests that Darth Vader could use the Force, but the title has also been speculated to be a propaganda technique the Emperor employed to make his henchman seem all the more frightening. 

Darth Vader was often seen accompanying the Emperor and in official propaganda starting way back in the first year of the Empire’s reign. Empire propaganda against the Jedi depicts him as a Jedi-hunter, eliminating the last remnants of the religious group that apparently fought back against Palpatine’s rise to power. Later, he officially became the head of the Imperial military in charge of fighting the Alliance, presumably because there were very few Jedi left. He died at the Battle of Endor. Unlike Palpatine, there were reliable witnesses on Endor who saw him dead. Commander Luke Skywalker brought his body down to the planet surface from the Second Death Star. 

R: Interesting. Maybe Skywalker thought the Alliance would benefit from having absolute confirmation that Vader was dead. After all, the Empire died with its most potent symbol. 

J: Perhaps. Like so much about Vader, no one really knows.

R: And that’s just where the hearsay comes in. So much of what we “know” about Vader is shrouded in rumor, and there was even less information available a few years ago. So naturally, this lead to wild speculation. 

J: Vader came out of nowhere to become the Emperor’s right hand man. He had a seemingly supernatural capacity for violence, and was described by many as under the complete control of the Emperor. So it’s not too much of a leap to assume he was created by the Emperor himself. According to sociologist and propaganda scholar Diame Naberrie, one of the most common urban legends about Darth Vader is that he was actually a droid. 

R: The origins of this rumor are pretty clear. Battle droids made up most of the Separatist fighting force in the Clone Wars, so the concept of a killer droid is completely plausible. There was his infamous mask, his durasteel armor, and what appeared to be a control panel on his chest. He was followed wherever he went by the sound of mechanical “breathing.” There was plenty about him that seemed more mechanical than alive. 

J: But here’s where that theory falls apart: the Force. One of our best sources of information on Vader is an anonymous informant to the New Republic government, known to the public only as Soldier Zero. Soldier Zero was a stormtrooper in the early years of the Empire before defecting to the rebels. According to him, Vader could use the Force and did so often. He recounts one incident in which Vader used the Force to choke a man to death: “Vader used to disagree with one high-ranking admiral, Finit. One day Finit made a mistake, sent troops into battle prematurely and got a bunch of men killed. When he reported back to Vader, Vader just stared at him. Then he cupped his hand in the air as if around Finit’s neck. He started choking, even though Vader clearly wasn’t touching him. It was like he was choking on air. No one did anything when he collapsed. He stopped breathing, and Vader just turned and walked away. That’s when I knew none of the stories I’d heard about Vader were an exaggeration.” 

R: Well, that’s disturbing. But it means that Vader was definitely not a droid, because he could use the Force. Only certain sentient beings can access the Force. 

J: Since it’s going to come up often on this show, we should probably explain just what the Force is. 

R: Sure. The Force is an energy field that some beings can access, that gives them certain supernatural-seeming powers. The most well-known is telekinesis, which is what Vader would have used in that story, but there are also stories about Jedi who had telepathic or precognitive abilities. The usual test for Force-sensitivity relies on markers called Midichlorians that are present in the blood. 

J: So a being has to have some kind of blood to have the Force. 

R: It seems like it. And then there was also the fact that Vader breathed. Very, very loudly. And droids don’t need to breathe. Granted, that could have been an intimidation tactic on the part of the Empire. Many people consider Vader’s mechanized breathing one of the scarier things about him. 

J: So if he had the Force and he apparently had lungs, then we can safely say he wasn’t a droid. 

R: I’d say so. 

J: But there is another theory in which Vader was created specifically as the Emperor’s enforcer. There’s a popular holonet theory that Vader is a clone. A widely shared post by a user known as, um, theemperors_shaft --- 

R: Oh, the gifts of an uncensored holonet. 

J: --- seems to be the origin of this theory. They outlined some reasons as to why Darth Vader might have been a clone. “Vader appeared out of nowhere at the start of the Empire.””No one knows where he came from.” “Vader appeared to have no family or any life outside of fighting for the Empire.” “Vader never appeared without his suit, so we don’t know what his face looked like.” The original post had over seven million notes before it was deleted, and screenshots have been circulated all over the holonet.

R: So in this theory, Vader could be a clone of absolutely anyone. A Jedi or another Force user. 

J: Exactly. All you need to clone someone is a DNA sample and a cloning facility.

R: But cloning sentients from DNA that isn’t your own is highly illegal throughout the galaxy. It has been from the Old Empire to the present. Then again, what would that be to the Emperor?

J: And the old Clone army had to come from somewhere. It’s long been rumored to be Kamino, a planet out on the fringes of known space. 

R: So he could have taken some random Jedi’s DNA to the Kaminoans, and gotten a clone with Force abilities that could be raised to fight for him. That makes sense, actually. But then why the suit? 

J: theemperors_shaft claimed the purpose of the suit was to hide the identity of the DNA donor. 

R: Wouldn’t it look good for the Emperor to have a Jedi who defected from the Order and was working for him?

J: One would think. But not if Vader was a clone of a Sith. Some have even suggested he was a clone of the Emperor himself.

R: That seems a little out there. I think if the Emperor had a clone of himself, he would have declared him his heir. The lack of an heir to the Empire was always a major threat to his reign, especially as he seemed to be about a thousand years old. 

J: I agree. But what really kills this theory is the idea, which is pretty well supported, that Vader’s suit functioned as a medical device. An anonymous Empire medic questioned by the New Republic claimed that Vader had unspecified injuries that required major medical interventions. He apparently had his own personal bacta tank and hyperbaric chamber in his quarters, which are wildly exorbitant things for anyone without a major medical condition. Soldier Zero also reported that Vader had four prosthetic limbs, and he’d seen him make repairs to all of them. 

R: Wow, that’s a lot. And then there’s the amplified breathing --- anyone who’s ever been in a hospital can tell you that’s the sound of mechanically assisted breathing, albeit amplified. 

J: And we’re not suggesting that a clone with artificial limbs and apparent respiratory issues couldn’t fight like Darth Vader. That seems completely within the realm of possibility, especially given the existence of figures like General Grievous. 

R: But it doesn’t really make sense to make a clone specifically for the purpose of violence, have him lose all his limbs and apparently some lung function, and then make him your right-hand man. No pun intended. And given the Emperor’s tendency to treat clone soldiers as disposable, it seems highly unlikely he would use a single clone to fill a specialized role. If the Emperor could make fifty clones with Force powers instead of one, why wouldn’t he? 

J: There’s also no proof that the Force is something you can inherit. The old Jedi were supposed to be celibate, so we don’t really know. The only known person to inherit the Force is Luke Skywalker, who is allegedly the son of Jedi Anakin Skywalker. 

R: So that would all seem to suggest that Vader was not a droid or a clone. The Emperor didn’t create Vader, at least not in the literal sense. 

J: Which means unreal as he may seem, Vader was a natural-born sentient. He is a reminder that the Jedi were not the only people around who used the Force. In our next episode, we’ll dive into some Clone-Wars era Dark force users who might have been rebranded as the Emperor’s enforcer. 

R: Until next week, this has been _Vader Unmasked._

NEW AUDIO SHOW ATTEMPTS TO UNRAVEL VADER’S MYSTERIOUS ORIGINS, ONE MYTH AT A TIME

Vana Corrand, Republic Times staff writer 

Anyone who grew up under the Empire would recognize the hulking figure in the skull-like mask. His mechanically amplified breathing haunted the nightmares of children and adults alike. For many years, Darth Vader served as the menacing symbol of the Empire’s wrath. Dying the same day as the Second Death Star was destroyed over Endor, his death with the Empire only served to cement the image of the dark lord as an otherworldly demon who exemplified the terror the Empire wrought across the galaxy. 

That’s exactly the image the hosts of the new aud-cast _Vader Unmasked_ want to destroy. 

“People saw the body, and that’s actually really important,” host Ranza Kerri explained. “He wasn’t some kind of omnipotent god, and neither was the Emperor. When people started saying Darth Vader was dead, that Luke Skywalker brought his body down to the surface, we knew it was over. We won.” 

Kerri is a former member of the Rebel Alliance, specializing in recruitment and countering propaganda. Her journalist co-host, Jami Terren, was a citizen of Alderaan studying off-world during its destruction. Both lost a lot at the hand of the Empire and have a vested interest in helping to destroy its ideology. 

“There’s a sort of mythology that’s sprung up around Vader, because nobody knows who or even what he was,” Terren says. “We want to say no, you don’t get that. You aren’t some kind of god of death, you were just a person with a mask and no conscience. We want to dispel some of the less plausible theories and, if we can, figure out who he was and how exactly he became the Emperor’s enforcer.” 

Their first episode delves into popular theories that claim Vader was a droid or a clone. Future episodes promise to explore the Force, which Vader was rumored to use, and the nature of the Jedi and Sith orders. 

“It’s not just about Vader. There’s all this information about the Jedi and the Force the Empire tried to destroy completely, even as its military commander was using it to commit murder. And that means it’s something the general public really needs to know about,” Kerri says. 

Freedom of information is a hot-button issue these days, as the New Republic struggles to eke out an accurate historical record from the censorship of the Empire. We will certainly be curious to see if the hosts of this aud-cast can piece together this long-held secret of the Empire.


End file.
